Ballast tamping machine



1964 F. PLASSER ETAL 3,120,194

BALLAST TAMFING MACHINE Filed Aug. 17, 1961 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 JNVENTOR; fiuwz BL/SSER y J 03 PF 50 HER I :1" I'l r 1964 F. PLASSER ETAL BALLAST TAMPING MACHINE 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Aug. 17. 1961 Feb. 4, 1964 F. PLASSER ETAL 3,120,194

BALLAST TAMPING MACHINE Filed Aug. 17, 1961 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 Tic-.7

77d INVENTORS QMl/Z flAsse BY JOSE? TH'EURER United States Patent 3,120,194 BALLAST TAMPEL S l'viACHINE Franz Plasser and Josef Theurer, both of 3 Johannesgasse, Vienna, Austria Filed Aug. 17, 1%1, Ser. No. 132,977 Claims priority, application Austria May 13, 1959 3 Claims. (Cl. 104-12) The present invention relates to ballast tamping machines used in railroad track maintenance work, and more particularly to that type of track tampers wherein a vertically adjustable tamping tool carrier supports a plurality of tamping tools which are vibrated by means of a crank shaft.

in conventional track tamping machines, the axis of the crank shaft is perpendicular to the axes of the tampin tools whereby the crank shaft vibrates the tools in a plane parallel to the tool axes.

We have now found that it is advantageous, under certain tamping conditions, to tamp the ballast with tools which are vibrated or pivoted about their axes, i.e. in a plane perpendicular to the axes of the tools. This advantage is particularly significant when it is desired rapidly to tamp ballast under the ends of ties to fix such ties at a predetermined level.

Furthermore, we have found it to be advantageous in such an arrangement to mount generally vertically extending fiat tnmping plates adjnstably in tamping tool holders so that each tamping plate may be rotated about the ends of the tarnping tool to vary the position of the plate plane in relation to the direction of the tamping motion of the tools.

We have discovered the advantage of this on the basis of the fact that the quality of ballast tamping depends not only on the size of the tamping pressure but to a possibly even larger extent on the tamping direction.

it has been known that it is particularly important to tamp the ballast well below the points where the rails cross the ties. For this purpose, we have suggested an arrangement wherein the tamping tools are pivoted in the direction of these points in our copending application Serial No. 5228, filed January 28, 1950, now Patent No. 3,000,326. However, this arrangement sometimes involves difficulties in transmitting suflicient directional force to the tamping tools.

It is, therefore, one object of the present invention to overcome this difficulty and also to provide alternative means for accomplishing this purpose, which may be more suitable to certain railroad maintenance work and/or locations.

In accordance with this invention, the axis of the crank shaft for viorating the tamping tools is parallel to the of the tamping tools so that the rotation of the crank shaft vibrates the tools in a plane perpendicular to their axes. In one particular embodiment, the tamping tools are pivoted or oscillated about their own axes whereby the succession of a plurality of such alternating pivoting or oscillating movements eifect the tarnping of the ballast.

According to a preferred embodiment of this invention, pairs of associated tools are supported on a vertically adjustable carrier and, in addition to being vibrated in the indicated manner, their mutual distance may be adjusted by means of pivotal arms and pivoting means for said arms. As is known, such a pincer movement of vibratory tamping tools is particularly effective in producing good tamping.

More specifically, the vibrating motion may be imparted to the tools by cranks and connecting links, one end of the cranks being connected to the crank shaft while their other ends are linked to one end of the connecting li ks, the other ends of the connecting links being connected to the tamping tools. The distance adjustment lid between the associated tamping tools may be efiected by pivotal arms having one end pivotaliy supported on the carrier while another end is connected to a respective tamping tool.

The other connecting link ends are so connected to the tamping tools as to impart a rotation to the tam ing tool plates, the connecting links moving the tarnping tools in an are which is eccentric in relation to the eccenter shaft during the movement of the crank arms.

In accordance with another preferred embodiment of the invention, means is provided for rotating the tamping plate about the ads of the camping tool carrying it whereby the plane of the plate may be adjusted in relation to the direction of the tamping motion of the tools.

The vertically adjustable tamping tool carrier may take any suitable form, such as shown, for instance, in our US. Patent No. 2,876,709, 0]. March 10, 1959. In the embodiment illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2, however, the tamping tool carrier is mounted on a pivotal support arm.

The objects, advantages and features of the invention will be more fully understood in the light of the following :etailed description or" specific embodiments thereof, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing wherein:

PEG. 1 is a front view, partly in section, of a tamping tool arrangement according to the present invention, taken along line 1-1 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 2 is a schematic top view of the arrangement of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a side clevational view of a modified structure;

FIGS. 4 to 6 are top views of the structure of FIG. 3 in di erently adjusted positions of the tamping plates, one end position being shown in full lines while the other end position of the tamping tools is indicated in broken lines;

FIG. 7 is a top View of a tamping tool and its adjustable mounting means; and

FIG. 8 is a vertical cross section of FIG. 7.

As is conventional, the ballast tamping machine comprises a carriage 1 with wheels 2 to travel on railroad track 3 including ties 4 embedded in ballast 5. Upright webs 19 are bolted to the carriage and pivotal support arms 6 are journaled in webs 19 by means of axle 7. The pivoting means for the arms 6 comprises a hydraulic mechanism consisting of hydraulic cylinder 8 pivoted to the webs 19 by means of axle 9 while the piston rod 10' is pivoted to the support arms by means of axle 11.

Hydraulic fluid may be supplied to the hydraulic cylinder to reciprocate piston 1d therein so as to pivot arms 6 about axle 7.

Tamping tool carrier 12 is fixedly mounted at the outer ends of the support arms 6 laterally outside the carriage and the track. The eccentric or crank shaft 13 is journaled in the carrier 12. The drive motor 2% for the shaft is mounted on the carrier 12 below the shaft.

In the illustrated embodiment, a pair of associated tamping tools 17a with vertically extending fiat tamping plates 17 are supported on the carrier, the vibration of the tools being effected by means of a pair of cranks 14, each crank having one end connected to the crank shaft while its other end is linked to connecting links 14' which are fixed to the upper ends of the tamping tools.

The tamping tools are rotatably mounted in holders or bearings 17' which are carried by pivotal arms 15 whose other ends are pivotally supported at 16 on the tamping tool carrier 12.

The mechanism for moving the pivotal arms 15 and the tamping tools together and apart is shown to include hydraulic cylinder 18 linked to one of the pivotal arms and piston rod It? linked to the other pivotal arm. A piston is reciprocable in the hydraulic cylinder by feeding hydraulic fluid thereto.

The tamping tool arrangement illustrated in FIGS. 3 to 6 is similar to that of FIG. 1, except that one such arrangement is mounted at each side of rail 3, as is usual in track tampers desired to tamp ballast under track ties, at the points Where the rails cross the ties. To clarify the 7 showing of the essential parts of the invention, the means for vertically adjustably mounting the tamping tool carriers on the carriage, the carriage itself and the means for adjusting the mutual distance of the tamping tools are not illustrated, all of these features being well known and suitable means therefor being shown, by way of example, in FIGS. 1 and 2. Other known means may be used, if desired.

The structural features of each tamping tool aggregate in FIGS. 3 to 6 being identical with those of FIGS. 1 and 2, the same reference numerals have been applied to the aggregate at the left side of the figures while no reference numerals are'applied to the identical aggregate at the right side of the figures.

' FIGS. 4 to 6 each show the tamping plate plane enclosing a different angle in relation to the direction of the tamping motion. FIGS. 7 and 8 illustrate one specific means by way of example for adjustably mounting the tamping tool'plates.

As shown, the shaft of tamping tool 17a has an end member 21 provided with a plurality of circumferentially spaced, axially extending ribs 22 of dove-tailed cross section. The connecting cross link 1. has a corresponding bore to receive the end member and having correspondingly dove-tailed, axially extending grooves. The tamping plate 17 being fixedly mounted at the other end of the tamping tool shaft, this arrangement constitutes means for rotating the tamping plate about the axis of the tool. Thus, the plates of the tamping tools may be adjusted readily in any desired position and the desired adjustment will be empirically determined at the tamping site to obtain optimumresults in respect of any desired degree of V ballast compaction, Once the desired angle of the tamping plate has been determined and set, the tamping tool shaft is fixed in position in relation to the connecting link 14' by means of Washer 23 and connecting bolts 24, 24; For the sake of clarity, this fixing means has been omitted inthe top view of FIG. 7.

The machine operates as follows The carriage 1 is moved to a tie 4 to be tamped and is halted in a position wherein the tamping tools are adjacent the tie. The tamping tool carrier is now lowered until the lower ends of the tamping tools are deeply enough immersed in the ballast to effect the tamping thereof under the tie. In this position, the crank shaft motor is actuated as well as the hydraulic fluid supply for cylinder 18 so that the tamping tools eifectuate an arcuate pincer movement while being vibrated. After the tamping operation is completed, the tamping tool carrier is lifted to disengage the tamping tool ends from the track and to enable the carriage to be moved to the next tie to be tamped.

While the invention has been described in connection with certain particular embodiments, it will be clearly understood that many variations and modifications may occur to the skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope thereof, as defined in the appended claims.

This is a continuation-in-part of our applioation Serial No. 24,316, filed April 25, 1960, now abandoned.

What we claim is:

1. A ballast tamping machine comprising a wheeled carriage to travel on a railroad track, a tamping tool carrier, vertically adjustable means mounting the carrier on the carriage, a pair of associated tamping tools, means supporting the tamping tools on the carrier with their axes extending vertically to the track, a crank shaft journaled in said carrier, the axis of the crank shaft being parallel to the axes of the tamping tools, crank means connecting the crank shaft with the tamping tools, whereby rotation of the crank shaft vibrates the tam-ping tools in a plane perpendicular to'their axes, pivotal arms linking the tamping tools to the tamping tool carrier and means for pivoting said arms in, the direction of the track to adjust the mutual distance between the tamping tool axes while the axes remain vertical.

2. A ballast tamping machine, comprising a Wheeled carriage to travel on a roalroad track, a tamping tool carrier, vertically adjustable means mounting the carrier on the carriage, a pair of associated tamping tools, means supporting the tamping tools on the carrier with their axes extending vertically to the track, a crank shaft journaled in said carrier, the axis of the crank shaft being parallel to the axes of the tamping tools, a pair of pivotal arms, each arm having one end pivotally supported on the carrier and another end connected to a respective one of said tamping tools, means for pivoting said arms in the direction of the track to adjust the mutual distance between the tamping tools, a pair of cranks, each crank having one end connected to the crank shaft, and a pair of connecting links, each connecting link having one end linked to the other end of a respective one of said cranks and the other end connected to a respective one of said tamping tools.

3. A ballast tamping machine comprising a Wheeled carriage to travel on a railroad track, a tamping tool carrier, vertically adjustable means mounting the carrier on the carriage, a plurality of tamp ng tools, means supporting the tamping tools on the carrier with the axes of the tamping tools extending vertically to the track, tamping plates on said tools and extending ventically to the track, means for rotating the tamping plates about the axes of the tamping tools, means for fixing the tamping tools in position after rotation of the tamping plates, a crank shaft journaled in said tamping tool carrier, the axis of the crank shaft being parallel to the axes of the tamping tools, and crank means connecting the crank shaft with the tamping tools whereby the rotation of the crank shaft vibrates the tamping tools in a plane perpendicular to their axes.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

1. A BALLAST TAMPING MACHINE COMPRISING A WHEELED CARRIAGE TO TRAVEL ON A RAILROAD TRACK, A TAMPING TOOL CARRIER, VERTICALLY ADJUSTABLE MEANS MOUNTING THE CARRIER ON THE CARRIAGE, A PAIR OF ASSOCIATED TAMPING TOOLS, MEANS SUPPORTING THE TAMPING TOOLS ON THE CARRIER WITH THEIR AXES EXTENDING VERTICALLY TO THE TRACK, A CRANK SHAFT JOURNALED IN SAID CARRIER, THE AXIS OF THE CRANK SHAFT BEING PARALLEL TO THE AXES OF THE TAMPING TOOLS, CRANK MEANS CONNECTING THE CRANK SHAFT WITH THE TAMPING TOOLS, WHEREBY ROTATION OF THE CRANK SHAFT VIBRATES THE TAMPING TOOLS IN A PLANE PERPENDICULAR TO THEIR AXES, PIVOTAL ARMS LINKING THE TAMPING TOOLS TO THE TAMPING TOOL CARRIER AND MEANS FOR PIVOTING SAID ARMS IN THE DIRECTION OF THE TRACK TO ADJUST THE MUTUAL DISTANCE BETWEEN THE TAMPING TOOL AXES WHILE THE AXES REMAIN VERTICAL. 